Moments
by Falconfire
Summary: Because moments of fleeting beauty are what make a life worth living. A collection of oneshots and drabbles. Various Pairings. [Chapter 2: Grapes: ShikaIno]
1. Summer: Tenten and Gaara

I don't own Naruto, but don't you dare steal my ideas.**  
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**Rating: **K**  
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**Genre: **General/Drama

**Pairings: **None. Tenten and Gaara.

**Summer**

She looks to him now, and his cerulean eyes still carry within them a single shard of untainted summer.

From the shadowed crooks of her consciousness, it trickles out. The images are hazy, but all that matters stands vivid. She remembers eyes brimming with wronged innocence, which pleaded for understanding. She remembers laughter that, still now, peals out in her mind to her as the essence of summer.

Once upon a sunny June, from an existence a lifetime ago, when she still had a family who traveled the lands collecting weapons…she remembers Suna.

The weather promised nothing but hot, hot, hot, and so she looked for miniature adventures to take her mind off the desert's summer heat.

A stone towered above her, and like the child she still was, she clambered atop and gazed around, eyes wide while taking in the sea of sand that stretched to the horizons. It is Mother Earth's splendor abounding limitless.

Beauty, however, is only valued when balanced alongside darkness, and so she also saw the solitary figure perched atop a small wooden swing, enveloped by the shade, overlooked by the world.

An action lacking planning, a question without thought later, she stands before him, and a flurry of pure happiness follows, until that laughter rings out, and a piece of summer is frozen in her remembrance to cherish for eternity.

But the sands of time slowly trickle by, despite all that mortals try. And so summer dies, leaving in its remnants nothing but memories to be blown away, dancing dust in the wind.

So now, she looks away from the man who stands before her, eyes highlighted with years of pain, bloody sand encircling his soul, his will to live etched in his face and in his heart. She looks away and pretends to not recognize him as the boy whose eyes lit up so brightly when she'd asked him, eight years ago, if he'd wanted to be friends.

**Owari**

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Man, I love Gaara. I had to do a story about his changes...it's so SAD. -sobs-

Am taking requests for _most _pairings, including crack. I'll take requests for themes as well.

Reviews are appreciated.


	2. Grapes: ShikaIno

I tried to do a SasuIno that MTPocketts requested, but somehow, it turned out to be a ShikaIno. -_hangs head in shame_- It appears the die-hard ShikaIno fan in my mind would not let me. XP

**Rating:** K+

**Genre:** Romance/Angst

**Pairings:** ShikaIno

**Alternate Universe**

**Grapes**

Yamanaka Ino is a princess in her own right. She, in effect, reigned with iron fist over her two male advisers, who would duck and obey her every whim to avoid her formidable wrath, for seven years.

But time, the renowned healer of scars, is also the downfall of temporal paradise.

She wonders idly of their past motives while popping a grape into her mouth. Perhaps at first they did so to escape her earsplitting screeches of rage, but as days turned to months, and months turned to years, the bossy little girl grew tall, strong, and beautiful. It wasn't until the day Shikamaru led her to his special cloud-watching place and professed his love did she realize they were perhaps indulging her with another intention in mind.

Of course, in that sense, she was not ignorant of the fact that she was, indeed, the prettiest woman in the realms of Konoha, Suna, and Oto combined, shown now as she reclines against a plush violet cushion, golden hair splayed across the seat like rays of a noontime sun, as she gazes out her window at the lush land beyond. Ino had just never considered Shikamaru and Chouji in her league.

"You are very kind." She had murmured in reply before turning away, the phrase uttered exactly as a princess should.

Still, he avidly adored her, even while her thoughts were of another, dark-haired, dark-hearted prince. He did not ask her why she disregarded his advances, because she is a blueblood, and he is her servant. So it is, and so it should be.

And yet, she did not question him when he informed her he was departing to retrieve Orochimaru's grapes. They were rumored as the sweetest in the world, and guarded as jealousy as their fame boasts. If he succeeded, it will be a legendary feat that will render his name eternal in history, much like the Greek sagas of old.

The heavy silence between them is weighted with the message that politics forbid him to utter: _I'll prove myself to you, my princess, and maybe then, you'll love me as well._

Another grape finds its way through her perfect pink lips as the memories call forth emotions threatening to overwhelm her.

Two years went by, and he did not return. She placed him and his mission into the corners of her mind, but could not help but feel the absence when only Chouji stood by her throne during the coronation.

Then one day, a gray, dreary morning, he is back, battered, bruised, a single step away from Lady Death's doorstep. She abandons tradition and pride for one moment to rush to his side.

Of all her years of masquerading and viewing herself above others, perhaps the one image, burned into her mind, that she cherishes most is that moment when his cracked lips curled into a tender smile as he pressed the sacred fruits into her hand. "For you, my princess."

And then he was swept away, away from her view and her life, the wave of medics obstructing her sight. Only later does she realize she forgot to correct him, and that she was queen now.

Somehow, it doesn't seem to matter, paling in comparison to the fact that he had returned, and maybe…just maybe she get used to being called _his_ princess.

However, what goes around comes around, and Yamanaka Ino had already thrown away her one chance at true happiness.

So now, she sits primly, as a queen should, five years later, at the prime of her life, unmarried, and sworn to never do so. Her back is straight, and her life is still bound by society, rules, and the expectations of royalty. She looks across the wide expanse of her kingdom, and her gaze lingers for a second longer than necessary at the dark vines hung with purple that grace her court's garden.

Knowing that the man who offered her the first of those fruits will never walk the earth again, she slips another delectable grape into her mouth, and concludes that, for her, they possess a decidedly bitter taste.

**Owari**

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Uwaah! It's so sad. Nothing in the world will ever make Ino happy again. Gosh, what is WRONG with me? I swore never to write angst, and the first two of my drabbles pretty much beg for the reader to begin bawling. Ah, I have fallen to the dark side...

Reviews are appreciated!


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